ANYONE who is worried local democracy is dead in Britain should take a look at the council results in Sussex.

Although the county is often portrayed as true Blue from outside, nothing could be further from the truth.

For every staunchly-Conservative council, such as Wealden, there is another run by the Liberal Democrats, such as Eastbourne, or one controlled by Labour, like Crawley.

In Brighton and Hove, results were so tight, many wards returned people from different parties.

One independent, Jayne Bennett, got through because of sheer hard work and Greens made a good showing in the city centre because they hit the right buttons for radical electors.

Although turnout was not spectacular, a third of the electorate bothered and almost half took the trouble to vote in Brighton and Hove's all-postal ballot.

There were concerns over security with the ballot and other more minor problems, such as forms not fitting properly into envelopes. But the increase in turnout was so marked it should be tried again with improvements on a more widespread basis.

Now it's time for councils to repay the trust the electorate has shown in them by governing efficiently and imaginatively in its best interests.